The present invention relates to downrigger fishing reels and particularly to a swivel base therefor.
Downrigger reels employed for deep trolling for game fish typically are removably secured to the deck of a vessel utilizing a base plate permanently mounted to the vessel with a mounting plate removably securable to the base plate and forming an integral part of the downrigger. U.S. Pat. No. 3,614,016 is illustrative of such structure.
It is frequently desirable, particularly where several downriggers are installed, for example on the transom area of a vessel, to position the booms of the downriggers at different angles. One swivel structure which has permitted such mounting is in the form of a pair of telescopic tubes, the inner tube has a plurality of aligned holes drilled therethrough and the outer tube includes a spring loaded pin which can be extended into the pivoted inner tube at any one of the desired holes for securing the inner tube, to which the downrigger is attached, in one of many positions. Another approach employs a pair of coaxially interfitting cylindrical drums which are constrained to rotate with respect to one another within an arc of about 90.degree. and include a frictional brake therebetween for securing the drums. The inner drum is secured to the deck of a vessel while the downrigger is secured to the outer drum. In order to fix the position within the 90.degree. arc of adjustability, it is necessary however to remove the deep trolling reel to gain access to the axially mounted frictional brake.
Both of these prior devices are extremely bulky and undesirably raise the downrigger a significant distance off the mounting surface of the vessel.